REDESIGNED PROCESSES REDUCE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATION TIMES BY 50%

Development of new administrative process to reduce errors and address bottlenecks in a busy emergency department of a private hospital.

DELIVERABLE

Reduced error level for pathology results

ISSUE

The hospital’s emergency department had unacceptably high rate of error in returned pathology results for its patients. This was, in turn, increasing the patient length of stay resulting in a major bottleneck in the department.

SOLUTION

We comprehensively reviewed the existing processes through consultation and workshops with nursing staff, and mapped the process to identify issues. We redesigned processes, developed a new tool to assist with processing, and determined appropriate resourcing levels across the testing process. Our team trained staff on new tools and processes to ensure the solution was sustainable.

RESULT

Our solution provided a 50 per cent reduction in administration times, and a 50 per cent reduction in overall turnaround time for emergency department patients. The improvements to processes facilitated a significant reduction of errors in the pathology process and gave nurses over 600 minutes more time for patient care per day.